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- Security guards will protect employees at three mobile COVID-19 vaccination units in Colorado.
- It follows several incidents of harassment by anti-vaxxers, The Gazette reported.
- In one instance, per The Denver Post, a lit firework was thrown into a vaccination tent.
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Security guards are being recruited to work at mobile COVID-19 vaccination units in Jefferson County, Colorado, following an extended period of anti-vaxxer harassment, Newsweek reported.
The guards will be in place for the foreseeable future so that the county can continue to host immunization events without the fear of workers being harmed, according to the local Colorado media outlet The Gazette.
Earlier this month, Jefferson County's public health agency took three mobile units out of service after a driver in a neighboring county, where the units were contracted to work, smashed signage around the vaccination tents, The Gazette said.
Anti-vaxxers have yelled obscenities and thrown garbage at healthcare workers, according to The Denver Post, and one individual tossed an unidentified liquid at a nurse.
In another incident, The Gazette reported, a lit firework was thrown into one of the tents where a unit was operating.
Staff members for the vaccination units were also verbally assaulted by members of the public on September 4, the health agency's executive director, Dawn Comstock, told the local media outlet.
Comstock said in a statement that Jefferson County's health agency "will not be frightened out" of its duty to vaccinate the public.
"We've put in place additional security measures to ensure the safety of our employees, and we'll work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that these few radicals do not impede on the rights of individuals who wish to be vaccinated," she continued.
Jefferson County's public health agency is in discussions with the local sheriff's office and law enforcement agency about whether further steps will be needed to ensure the safety of their employees, Comstock told The Gazette.